


Taako’s Bad Trip

by crychan (orphan_account)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hallucinations, I seriously love Taako, Illusions, Isolation, Mind Manipulation, Post-Episode: e051-057 The Suffering Game Parts 1-7, Spoilers, good job justin, i think griffin (and us) wanted taako to take a little longer to solve his hallway puzzle, lucretia is mentioned so much im suprised she doesnt have lines lmaoo, magnus is mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 00:46:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14032446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/crychan
Summary: A written concept of Lucretia’s Office Hallway.





	Taako’s Bad Trip

Merle and Taako enter the Director’s office, like they have many times before, but never for such sinister reasons. To violate the Director’s trust and go against the Bureau, it was something that Taako was unsure about. Personally, Taako had no reason to do this; he had no stakes in this game. The Bureau had done nothing to him.

Magnus wearing a red robe, so _what_? Taako couldn’t form what should have been the natural progressing thought, and his brain momentarily filled with harsh static. He grimaced for a moment, took a breath. He decided he couldn’t dwell on it, lest he wanted more static to appear. But he kept thinking.

If Pringles was imprisoned, it was for good reason; the exact reason they were about to be guilty of as well: treason, conspiring with Red Robes.

They see the oak desk, the large portrait behind the desk and a door to their immediate left. They begin to approach the door, but Taako stops, ever so hesitant of the risks. He pulls the Pocket Spa out of his bag, and opens it to see Barry, standing there, as if expecting him.

“Listen.” Taako begins, “And think hard before you answer. We’ve been, uh, fighting alongside the Bureau of Balance for...” He pauses and has trouble putting the timeline together, static an ever-constant, but not painful presence in his mind. “a little over a year? I need you to tell me, in a sentence, why we should trust you and turn against the Bureau.”

Barry wrings his hands together, and looks down in deep thought. “Um… I don’t—I don’t think I’m evil? Like, I don’t think I’m an evil guy? I don’t—obviously there’s like, some pretty big holes in the ol’ Barry—Barry story,” And he puts one hand to the side of his head, and frowns, his hand holding onto his blond hair with a tightened grip. He kind of scoffs and continues, “I got the ol’ swiss cheese brain, but, like, I don’t—“

“You have veered off sentence and are hurdling towards paragraph, my friend.” Taako interrupts. The Director will be arriving eventually, and it’s best to stop wasting time if they have to go through with this plan. “A sentence, please. Time is of the essence and I think you need this worse than we do.”

Barry says nothing for a moment, his hand comes down and he’s fidgeting with them again. Then he opens his mouth, face still downcast, and says, “I don’t know, but I feel like I trust you.”

  
Taako kicks open the door. Well. Tries. He just hurts his foot and then shyly pushes the door open while Merle laughs. Inside is a vast white hallway, completely blank, brightly lit in the same way as the rest of the base; like light is imbued in the very tiles that surround the walls, the floor, the ceiling. While listening to Barry’s coin instructions, they begin their trek down the hall.

And _sink into the floor._

Merle and Taako both gasp. Taako’s lost up to his waist. Merle sinks lower than that, his beard is already partially inside the floor. It’s like quicksand meets landslide. While Taako tries to reach for the door, they are both whisked away towards the center of the room with an unbelievable amount of force and roughness, and Taako doesn’t notice the shriek of terror that escapes his lips while he still reaches for the door that’s moving farther away from him, nor does he hear Merle’s surprised shout.

He feels Merle hold onto his arm and Taako knows he sank lower because of their movement from the door, the floor now level with his chest, nearing his neck. Taako’s hands are still above it, and he’s trying to pull Merle out with any strength he has, but honestly, he thinks he’s just sinking himself deeper. The hall’s light seems to be growing dimmer, Taako just keeps sinking, his breath is quickening, and he’s releasing fearful wails.

They’re swirling now, and in the dimmest light, Taako can see _scorpions have begun crawling from these seemingly seamless walls_. Taako and Merle are both screaming and grasping onto each other. Merle is trying to use the Vroom Broom to pull them out, but Taako and Merle watch in grotesque horror as it turns into a bouquet of dead flowers, and sees spiders crawling from the bouquet up Merle’s soulwood arm, some nearing Merle’s chest that’s pressed up to Taako’s arm. Taako jerks back with a petrified scream. But once he let go, Merle is suddenly being pulled _far, far away_ , and Taako can’t reach him. He needs Merle’s help to keep himself above the pull of this quicksand. Taako knows he’s sinking a lot faster than Merle, and Taako knows he’s about to be completely submerged, he barely has seconds. It’s passing his neck, his left arm already completely trapped below the floor, Taako’s desperately reaching for Merle’s hand, he’s screaming for Merle’s help, who is in turn, reaching for Taako.

Then Taako succumbs into the floor and is enveloped in an infinite darkness, mid-scream.

He is trapped. And he is alone. By himself this suffocating, claustrophobic blackness. Isolated. It’s only been moments and Taako is already overwhelmed and is screaming, and crying, and thinking, _This can’t be real, this really can’t be, please_. He takes a shaky breath inward and his hands are mixed up into his hair, eyes widened staring off into an empty direction. He looks around and can’t see anyone, anything, Then his eyes are squeezed tightly shut as tears flood him and he’s screaming into the void.

Eventually, finally, Taako stops. He doesn’t know why he stops, but he does. The air is still and silent. He can’t hear Merle. He can’t hear anything. He takes a shaky breath and tries to concentrate. Focus. Rationalize. This can’t happen to him. This can’t be fucking real.

_This really can’t. Rational. Be rational, Taako. Scorpions? In the Bureau? And Merle’s broom turning into dead flowers and living spiders? That’s impossible, Taako. That’s literally impossible. So if all of that’s impossible, this is impossible too. So you can’t be alone, Taako. You can’t be._

_This isn’t real._

Taako is laying on his back in the hallway. Panting, eyes wide, on edge. He looks to his left. There’s Merle. Writhing and crying out about his broom. Taako sighs deeply. It _was_ an illusion. He takes a deep breath, stands up, and puts on his Band of Telepathic Thought. Then yells, “It’s a trick, dummy!”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading <3


End file.
